Ukip beaten by Monster Raving Loony Party in Brecon by-election
Ukip faced an embarrassing political defeat in the Brecon by-election after their candidate received fewer votes than the Monster Raving Loony Party.
Candidate Lady Lily Pink claimed an 334 votes, beating Ukip’s Liz Phillips, who received only 242 votes.
The Monster Raving Loony Party’s manifesto states they will ’send Noel Edmonds to negotiate Brexit because he understands Deal or no Deal’.
It adds: ‘There will be no need for backstop for the Brexit negotiations. We’ll have Alex Stewart as wicket-keeper.’
Ukip’s disastrous night was a further setback following their damaging defeat in the European elections.
![Liberal Democrat candidate Jane Dodds (R) is congratulated by the Official Monster Raving Loony Party candidate Lady Lily The Pink after winning the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election at the Royal Welsh Showground on August 2, 2019 in Builth Wells, Wales. - Britain's Boris Johnson lost his first major test as prime minister on August 2 when his candidate lost to a pro-EU rival in a by-election that could narrow his parliamentary majority to one. Official results showed the European-supporting Liberal Democrats' candidate Jane Dodds defeating Chris Davies from Johnson's ruling Conservative party by 13,826 to 12,401 votes. (Photo by Isabel INFANTES / AFP) / The erroneous mention appearing in the metadata of this photo by Isabel INFANTES has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: [Jane Dodds] instead of [Jane Dodd]. Please immediately remove the erroneous mention from all your online services and delete it from your servers. If you have been authorized by AFP to distribute it to third parties, please ensure that the same actions are carried out by them. Failure to promptly comply with these instructions will entail liability on your part for any continued or post notification usage. Therefore we thank you very much for all your attention and prompt action. We are sorry for the inconvenience this notification may cause and remain at your disposal for any further information you may require. (Photo credit should read ISABEL INFANTES/AFP/Getty Images)](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/f8PKPrpSLYNfYtB2uFQR.g--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTY0MA--/https://media-mbst-pub-ue1.s3.amazonaws.com/creatr-images/2019-08/1c563d60-b4cd-11e9-bf72-e740145656c3)
Gerard Batten quit as leader on June 2 after Ukip was wiped out at the European elections by its former leader Nigel Farage’s new Eurosceptic group, the Brexit Party.
Ukip's role as the principal voice of Euroscepticism has been wrested from its grasp by the Brexit party, which took 3,331 votes in the Brecon by-election.
Ms Phillips accused the Brexit Party, of being "only a party in name", claiming that unlike Ukip, it does not offer people full membership.
"Ukip was the party that brought about the referendum and is the one that stayed firm all the way through," she said.
Ukip's leader has lost his seat at the May European Parliament elections, in a blow for the disintegrating party.
Gerard Batten has held his seat in London for a decade but was defeated after many of his voters switched over to the Brexit Party.
The Lib Dems beat the Conservative party in a major blow to Boris Johnson in his first electoral test eight days into his tenure as Prime Minister.
The Tories took 12,401 votes while the Lib Dems seized victory in the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election with 13,826 votes, meaning the Conservative working majority has been cut to just one.
Coming in third, Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party beat the Labour Party, which came in fourth with 1,425 votes.
Ukip came last with just 242 votes even losing out to the Monster Raving Loony Party, which got 334.
The Brexit Party which voted Leave by 60.9 per cent in the EU referendum in 2016, just about held onto its deposit while it was a sobering night for the Labour Party, coming in fourth, claiming 1,680 votes, just about holding onto its deposit.
Labour won the seat in 2017 with a wafer-thin majority of 607.
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Jeremy Corbyn’s party’s vote share dropped by 12.4 per cent.
Lib Den candidate Jane Dodds said: ‘The people of this constituency have chosen hope over fear. We demand better."
She said her first act as an MP will be to demand a ‘no-deal’ exit is ruled out.
She said: ‘People are desperately crying out for a different kind of politics.
Fifteen candidates stood in Thursday’s by-election, which was called after Peterborough’s previous MP Fiona Onasanya was forced out after she was jailed for lying about a speeding offence.
Onasanya was elected as a Labour MP and was suspended from the party after she was sentenced.
Both Labour and the Conservatives have campaigned hard ahead of the by-election, with the Labour leader, former prime minister Gordon Brown and Tory big guns Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt all visiting the city in the lead-up.
But Mr Farage’s Brexit Party, which won 29 seats in the European elections, has also campaigned hard in its first tilt at a Westminster seat.
Labour and the Brexit Party have jostled for position as the bookmakers’ favourite.
Labour’s by-election candidate, Unite activist Lisa Forbes, faced controversy in the week before the poll over a Facebook post she “liked” which said Theresa May has a “Zionist slave masters agenda”.
She told The Sunday Times she apologised “wholeheartedly for not calling out these posts” and that she had liked the video attached to the post, “not the views expressed in the accompanying text”.
She said she would “deepen” her “understanding of anti-Semitism so I can act as an ally, challenging it wherever it occurs”.
